syria pledges to retaliate while its close ally iran ones of diet consequences after israel launches a bombing raid on a target near damascus. unique footage surfaces of alleged chastity is committed by mali and troops in towns of freshly retaken from islamists as reports and civilian casualties remain censored and france plans to hand over the military operation to local troops. and obama's pick for defense secretary goes before the senate has a confirmation hearing starts with vocal protests already coming from the israeli lobby. that swan algae in the british taxpayers cry fall amid revelations of bad dog. further complicating what some say is an already bloated tax system.

you're watching r t a y from moscow with me to them and say it's good to have you with us. syria says it may take action against israel after its fighter jets reportedly violated syria's sovan t. and bombed a military research complex close to damascus meanwhile diplomats in syria's friendly iran say that the attack whole significant implications for israel arches policy is in tel aviv with more details now we are hearing from syria that israel did launch a military strike inside that country israel has not commented neither confirming nor denying these reports the syrian ambassador to lebanon did say that it was not clear where ever telling a three act would happen and that it was up to the powers that be to decide on such decisive action but he did say that it was an option and that it was and would be

a surprise now the iranian foreign minister has also stated that this israeli attack has serious implications for the israeli city of tel aviv and those are indeed quite harsh warnings what we understand from syria from syria and sources is that the israelis hit a research center not far from the capital city of damascus and that at least two unsigned workers were killed there are also reports that the strike hit a convoy of weapons that was making its way from syria to lebanon and now washington reportedly was warned by israel obvious intention to strike inside syria this kind of comment coming from a high ranking american official who has spoken on condition that he not be named it is important to mention that a couple of months ago iran's revolutionary guard did say that assad had friends in the region who had not yet entered the fray the quote was that these friends were poised to strike out in case there was an intervention in syria earlier this month

is well deployed if i am going to defense missile system to its border with syria and that this of a growing concern that they could be some kind of use of chemical weapons as. i mentioned earlier we have no comment yet from tel aviv there also has been no comment from washington moscow has said if indeed these reports are accurate that the israelis did strike inside syrian territory it is a gross violation of the united nations charter the arab league for its side has slammed his role for these alleged strikes saying that they are a flagrant act of aggression and a glaring violation of syria's sovereignty. for more twenty four seven the updates on the reported israeli bombing as well as opinions from inside the middle east the check up policies twitter feed and one of the latest tweets or she is citing the hebrew press which says a syrian rebel group has actually claimed responsibility for the attack on the

military research center near damascus. and for more analysis on this i'm joined live by professor said mohammad marandi iranian academic political analyst and expert of american studies professor iranian leadership has never denied that if there's a foreign intervention in syria it could even gauge into a war to protect its allies is a scenario becoming more realistic. the iranians have not said that they would engage in war but i think that they would look at the situation and respond in what they deem to be an appropriate manner in other words if iran is say the israelis are going to face serious consequences the iranians have many means to hurt the israelis and to punish the israelis it doesn't necessarily mean that they have to be involved directly they could. support

countries or bodies that could could make life for israelis more difficult so there are many we means in which the iranians can support the syrian people the syrian government and it's for more aggression against the syrian state and the syrian people and syrian sovereignty. if the airstrike really took place what was its purpose and did it have anything to do with iran. well at this stage it's very difficult to say but i think what is important is that the united states knew about their strike before hand they did nothing about it the european union as usual so silent about it there was no condemnation for killing syrians two for bombing the country for damaging the country's infrastructure. the e.u. in the united states just like when we allow israel to destroy gaza to impose

a siege on the people of gaza to make ordinary women and children suffer. here again be allowed the israeli regime to do what it likes they support apartheid in palestine so basically it's just a continuation of what we've already seen and that is full support for regime that is more or less out of control that attacks countries at will but but i think that it hurts the regime really more than anything else because of first of all it shows that the war against the government and the state by militants supported by the west is in a degree in coordination with israeli regime on the one hand the israelis are attacking their massacres and on the other hand western and dictatorships in the persian gulf they are aiding militants that are also attacking us and damascus why

do you think that these reports flying around about iran's hypothetical threat to what just happened now near damascus because this is all over the news now are they just looking for a scapegoat. well the iran is always an easy scapegoat for the west iran is blamed for everything except for global warming. but the reality is that western countries are the ones responsible for creating a civil war in syria they're responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of syrians because they are on a daily basis with support of regional dictatorships and other regimes. trying to wreck the sovereignty and independence of the of the syrian state and refraining from finding a peaceful solution western countries have destroyed the infrastructure of libya and they have created the what we now see in mali and of course we saw the blowback

in algeria so. you know the culprits are western regimes to allow also the most despotic embattled regimes such as saudi arabia to fund the extremists that are expanding across the region so there's no reason to blame iran of course iran will the syrian sovereignty and i think that the americans and israelis should take this seriously because the iranians through soft power and other means have made life very difficult for american americans and their allies in the region regime in the region over the past decade as we saw in iraq and afghanistan and in lebanon said mohammad marandi iranian academic political analyst and expert on american studies thank you for your analysis. right israel must to move all of its a half a million settlers out of palestine says

a fresh un human rights report dubbed bias and counterproductive by television investigation states of the grain settlement rushed to the scene as mine. she has managed to get exclusive footage of what's believed to be atrocities committed by the mali an army in a town liberated from islamist rebels with the help of french forces and information of civilian casualties in mali has been notably scarce we spoke to a local journalist gonzalo one who told us of the region's other disturbing tape as we continue moving north and find reports of extrajudicial killings and evidence of war crimes we have heard of the murder of a few citizens by mali and soldiers in the town of survivor not only did they kill them they shove their bodies into the drinking water well ok today in the center of the town making the rest of the population watch you also hearing of cases where people are being prosecuted for trying to earn a living under the rule of militants sixteen year old adama says he was unknowingly

employed as a cook and butler by jihadists is now being accused of terrorism. after i started working as a cook in the town of do when i went to surveyor there i met an old man and i asked him for a drink of water he said that he won't share water with terrorists i said that i was in a terrorist and i was just thirsty then i was put into prison i am no terrorist i didn't even know that i was working with militants i only realized that through the rumors i started hearing and then when everyone went on to the frontline i was just cooking food for them no one even talked to me i think persecution is also reportedly becoming widespread in the area arabs and said to be persecuted on charges of allegedly collaborating with the militants in the government and the french troops are fighting against our contacts in timbuktu also told us that shops belonging to arabs are being looted. the french after retaking the final major city

of kid l. from the slammer so say they will soon leave molly handing operations are over to government troops loot of unused international consultant and former deputy speaker of the belgium column and says this is a bad idea considering the low discipline and like all funding and the west african nation but i hear now is how this surprises me i mean first of all the million army does hold a grudge against the people who asked them from the northern part of the country and secondly the soldiers of very low grade and have very little to armaments at such as a they're not really a regular army in that sense there's only. hardly a state apparatus functioning how can your existed people and examine what they do you can't you just ground in a country like that so the only thing you can do correctly is if you think people might be terrorist is hold them and arrest them and detain them but you certainly are doing this kind of extra judicial executions but it totally surprises me that

this is going on right now this country needs support yes this country needs are but why is it that this help only comes in the form of military invasions that's a basic question usually we should ask ourselves. and there's also fears of sectarian revenge attacks in mali fighting the french led military campaign on this as well as images from the conflict torn country on r.t. dot com. the u.s. senate has started a confirmation hearing of one of president obama's most controversial choices for a kid job in his team chuck hagel nominated to be the new defense secretary has been under fire for his stance towards iran and is accused of being anti israel artie's granted he can explain why certain political groups are so against his candidacy. chuck hagel has been under attack since his name was floated those president obama's pick for the defense secretary position it would see attack ads

on all major u.s. t.v. channels saying what a terrible defense secretary chuck hagel would be all through our december and much of january they've been running these ads you know between commercials of beauty products prescription drugs and what so somewhere between those you could catch attack ads like this one secretary of defense chuck hagel president obama says he supports sanctions on iran he voted against the legal voted against labeling iran's revolutionary guard a terrorist group and while president obama says all options are on the table for preventing a nuclear iran he says military action is not a viable feasible responsible option president obama or secretary of defense chuck hagel is not responsible option. that ad was sponsored by the emergency committee for israel so what that truck will do to deserve that as a u.s. senator chuck hagel has been critical of israel's policies he's been critical of

the israeli lobby in washington here's what he said the political reality is that the jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people up here i've always argued against some of the dumb things they do because i don't think it's in the interest of israel i just don't think it's smart for israel and of quote among other things chuck hagel dared to say that u.s. interests should trump israeli interests if they conflict he supported direct negotiations with iran and unlike many other politicians here in washington who keep repeating the all options on the table mantra but these publicly they say that the chuck hagel has been straightforward in saying a strike on iran should not be an option and he has also been a proponent of a more even handed u.s. policy with regards to these really palestinian conflict and the u.s. has been anything but even handed on the issue it's also for statements like this one that he's been under attack take a look this is chuck hagel in two thousand and six the united states will remain committed to defending israel our relationship with israel is

a special and historic work but it need not and cannot be at the expense of our arab and muslim relationships. that is an irresponsible and dangerous fault choice some saw president obama's decision to nominate chuck hagel as his message to these really hard liners we actually heard president obama say there is too much war talk going on and maybe nominating chuck hagel is his way of bringing down the tension and not not everybody here in washington likes that message but what's interesting since the beginning of the attack campaign against chuck hagel over these two months or so many of the attackers have sort of withdrawn their objections over chuck hagel nomination some say could be because they received assurances behind closed doors that as defense secretary chuck hagel is not going to make any drastic moves to really challenge washington's foreign policy orthodoxies. phyllis bennis director at the institute for policy studies

things that a chuck hagel is standing firm by his beliefs hey go has never been outside the box he has not been one of those inside washington and hollywood for escalation against iran in fact he came out against unilateral sanctions in favor of diplomacy officially that is president obama's position as well there are enormous pressures coming from pro israel lobbies coming from the neo conservative. forces in the tanks and in the media calling for more escalation for war against iran he has resisted that and i don't think the fact that he said. the magic words if you will during his testimony today is a ship i believe just stands on the side of those insiders those washington insiders who are less so eager to go to war that doesn't mean there is no chance it just means that it's a very unlikely possibility. well there is governmental worries over energy

independence a doing its best but the russian wine is duty of paul plant after invalidating a national referendum that back the construction plan story off the shelf break. the first baby steps are joining. folds and bones are not a big deal. but they can cause terrible trauma. for children can be broken by bare touch. and only the will of life can make. i'm source way. fragile people on r.t. .

world. science technology innovation all the latest developments from around russia we've got the future covered. you're watching r t a live from the russian capital. the u.n. human rights council has released a report saying israel must move all settlers out of palestinian territories the paper says the settlements are violation of human rights destroying palestinians property and crops and driving them off their land israel has refused to cooperate

cooperate with investigation when the report by its and counterproductive for more on the issue lets us talk to human rights activists and blogger roy mao. mr mauer the report suggests israel's settlement and push may even amount to a war crime moving its citizens into occupied territory but doesn't carry enough weight to hold anyone accountable or think you've seen over the years many such reports and resolutions by various un bodies and international n.g.o.s and i don't think that these things carry a lot of weight in terms of their effect on actual policy on the ground if it were to come from a more prominent body either from the united states or from the united nations security council it might have a greater effect but this body is not perceived as a very influential what's happening the report called on companies and contractors

jack she stopped working in building the in the settlement could that help hamper the drive. if that happened companies and corporations were spawned it would certainly do with a lot of pressure both on the distributors of the system and. localities and on the israeli government in general which are very concerned about any kind of economic pressure from outside the question is in light of the fact that there has been pain of many years to try to boycott the settlements and to restrict investment and economic activity in the settlements will this new u.n. report make a big difference i'm not sure it's getting a lot of media attention which might have some effect but ultimately it's up to the activists shareholders and executives of the companies to decide about their policy

on this issue. israel has also boycotted the human rights review at the u.n. why would they do that i mean it feels it is a doing something wrong it's almost like this saying well we are. i think that it's a very misguided step both in the sense that it does send the wrong message of not standing up and stating their position but also in the sense that israel has been complaining for many years that it's being singled out by various un organs. the human rights council one of the things that it was formed to do was to have a more equitable process which had the same level of scrutiny for all you would members and although this report did single out israel it's boycott of the human rights council is comprehensive it refused to participate in

a review process which every other un member attends and even israel attended four years ago and that undermines not only israel's international position but the home human rights process in general roy. human rights activists and blogger thank you very much for your time. bulgaria's government is expected to block the russian finance construction of a new nuclear power plant this comes after national referendum voted in favor of the project the vote however was invalidated due to a low turnout kerry's allies in europe and the us feared the project would mean energy dependence on russia and p. re man of sheriff says authorities did their best to bring down.

four hundred million dollars in dead zone ukraine or that draws russia for more time to say find out online how we've managed to get so far into the rhyd and how it hopes to get out of it. and a craving for cold energy hungry china is burning as much of the black stuff as the rest of the world combined with levels of a pollution in the country skyrocketing that's online for you.

which is government does raise taxes twice as fast as cutting them according to a new report putting a damper on david cameron's pledge to create a lower tax country figures show almost three hundred u.g. hikes from the ruling coalition for the complicating an already notorious system. picks up the story by the end of this parliament the u.k. public will have seen cuts to some one hundred and nineteen various taxes that all sounds great but for a government that's promised to create a lower tax country news that they've actually increased some two hundred ninety nine of the taxes might be somewhat confusing the brits assume going to see an extra levy on carbon dioxide emissions that means energy bills are going to go up they're also going to see an increase in air passenger duty which means more expensive air travel and then some of the recent changes to u.k.

tax law quite simply bizarre revenue and customs recently increased to be eighty four hairdressers renting a chair in a salon and then who can forget the recent baked goods scandal when u.k. tax code stated that it pasty would only be taxed if it was sold at above ambient temperatures critics say the system is simply too chaotic britain has one of the most complex times. hard times jobs increases prices and it lowers wages so the time when. from these are struggling with the rising cost of living. so many touching increases. difficult for them it's clear that the british government is in desperate need of cash to deal with the dismal public finances which means that by trimming a little bit of tax here and adding more tax burden that by twenty fifteen the u.k. treasury hopes to get an extra eighty four billion pounds in tax compared with the

year before they came to power but critics say that once again is the british public which ends up out of pocket. artsy london. and the british prime minister has left travel to political waters at home to make a surprise visit to libya david cameron has made the trip despite it is a own government's warnings over security it plus the u.k. support for the country and to help it with its democratic transition earlier british authorities warned of an eminent threat against its embassies in tripoli wanting its citizens chief the. workers in athens have gone on a two day strike with hundreds on the streets protesting against us sergey measures that will make deep cuts to their pay five hundred medical stuff chanted slogans in front of the health ministry doctors port workers and public transport stop to target in a number of different demonstrations across the greek capital. after

a short break it's all special report french people coming out. you know i can kind of sort of understand the mindset of an evil dictator i have trouble understanding what is going on or maybe not going on in the minds of the terrified cogs who believe all the propaganda give up all their rights for the illusion of safety to coach jerry seinfeld who are these people well maybe some of them maybe working at your local school bring the bureaucracy zombies or the pennsylvania school suspended a kindergartner note kindergartner as a terrorist threat because she threatened to shoot another student with a gun that shoots soap bubbles i guess this was all.